Infowars Host Owen Shroyer Pleads Guilty to Entering Restricted Area on Jan. 6

Infowars host Owen Shroyer in a file image in Texas. Sergio Flores/Getty Images

Infowars host Owen Shroyer on June 24, pleaded guilty to a federal crime in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Shroyer admitted to entering a restricted area during the breach, according to documents filed in federal court in Washington. Shroyer did not enter the Capitol building.

Shroyer, who hosts a show for Alex Jones’s Infowars website, faces up to one year in jail.

A sentencing hearing was scheduled for later this year.

On Jan. 5, 2021, Shroyer told a crowd in Washington: “Americans are ready to fight. We’re not exactly sure what that’s going to look like perhaps in a couple of weeks if we can’t stop this certification of the fraudulent election of Joe Biden.”

He also said that “we are the new revolution” and that “We are going to restore and we are going to save the republic!” Shroyer made similar comments that day on his Infowars show.

A day later, Shroyer stood near the Capitol describing Democrats on tyrants and saying, through a loudspeaker, that “we declare death to tyranny” and “death to tyrants.”

“Today we march for the Capitol, because on this historic January 6, 2021, we have to let our Congressmen and women know and have to let Mike Pence know, they stole the election, we know they stole it, and we aren’t going to accept it,” Shroyer said.

Shroyer led chants of “USA” and “1776” as the crowd marched to the Capitol. He entered Capitol grounds after 1 p.m. and later led similar chants on the Capitol steps.

Defense

Norm Pattis, a lawyer representing Shroyer, told the court that Shroyer attended the Jan. 6 events as a journalist.

“To the extent that he was present on Capitol grounds, it was as part of a political demonstration. He did not engage in violence or in any attempt to impede or obstruct but mainly observed. As a journalist, he had an obligation to be close to the action,” Pattis said in a motion to dismiss the charges.

Shroyer said in an affidavit that his intention was primarily to “report on my observations to our millions of listeners and viewers worldwide.”

Infowars host Owen Shroyer outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. DOJ via The Epoch Times

Shroyer said that he went with Jones to see then-President Donald Trump speak about a mile from the Capitol. Shroyer and Jones, accompanied by a security detail, then walked to the Capitol with a crowd.

After seeing how people had become unruly at the Capitol, Jones tried calming the crowd as Shroyer stood by, Shroyer said.

Prosecutors said, “Harkening to the last time Americans overthrew their government in a revolution while standing on the Capitol steps where elected representatives are certifying a Presidential Election you disagree with does not qualify as de-escalation,” prosecutors said.

Plea

The motion to dismiss was withdrawn as part of Shroyer’s plea agreement.

Shroyer pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. In exchange, three other charges were dropped.

“Mr. Shroyer entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge and will be sentenced in September. We are hopeful that he will be spared incarceration,“ Pattis told The Epoch Times via email. ”We thank prosecutors for being reasonable in his case and wish that same spirit of reasonableness were more broadly shared in the Department of Justice. Jan. 6 was a riot, not an insurrection. A misdemeanor conviction is all this was worth.”

According to the agreed upon statement of offense, Shroyer violated the law by going on Capitol grounds, including passing by downed and moved barricades and at least one sign that said, “Area Closed.”

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, will sentence Shroyer on Sept. 12